The Daily Campus

Issue date: 4/14/09 Section: Commentary

The USG spring election has begun, and it is your job to choose between two qualified teams. Jason Ortiz and Amanda Stauble are up against Tom Haggerty and Lia Albini.

While Haggerty is clearly a capable candidate, Ortiz is the better choice to represent our campus and represent the student body. The Ortiz/Stauble platform involves greater transparency of USG practices, a reformation of the Funding Board, the change of university marijuana policies, continuation of improving GUARD Dogs and implementation of a student legal services department.

While Haggerty's platforms and beliefs show a traditional view of USG's role within UConn, Ortiz shows us the need for reform. He has plans to rebuild the Funding Board by giving specific representatives on the board a section of student groups to work with and advocate for. For example, one representative would work with Greek Life groups, but the representative would also plead his case to the Board with the advantage of knowing the inner workings of USG. This would prevent student groups from having to ask for funding without being aware of what the Funding Board is actually looking for.

Transparency of the system is a large part of the Ortiz/Stauble campaign. It is obvious that many students have no clue what truly goes on inside USG, and Ortiz plans to change that. Their campaign introduces Huskypedia.org, a Wiki page just for UConn students. Here, students have the opportunity to create pages for their organizations and special interests, ultimately creating memories for years to come. In addition to just being fun, Huskypedia will be a place where USG can post the minutes from all their meetings and even use an Obama-inspired "stimulus tracker" specific to UConn student funds. Huskypedia is an amazing idea and the Web page was designed by Stauble herself, with input from Ortiz, of course.

Ortiz and Stauble are both activists for the decriminalization of marijuana and they plan to use their knowledge, both from lobbying and conferences, to push UConn administration to lighten the policies regarding students caught with marijuana. While this may seem like something USG should not be handling, it is their opinion that USG can be used as a great unifying force between all student groups, in this case PIRG and Students for a Sensible Drug Policy. They plan to inform students of their rights and possible consequences for being caught with marijuana. Many students are already aware that they can lose housing, but many may not know that their financial aid could disappear as well. Ortiz and Stauble will make sure students are well informed as they pressure the administration to review the policies.

A way that they will help students stay informed on their legal issues is by putting together a "student legal services" department that will include a full-time lawyer and a committee to help students in need of legal information and counsel. The committee is a great idea, but the full-time lawyer may get expensive, as his salary will be coming from student fees. However, USG already spends $50,000 a year on T-shirts, so it just depends where you want your money going.

Both candidates have compelling arguments and platform promises, but Ortiz and Stauble are the ones most qualified to run our USG as president and vice president because of their previous experience within USG and outside lobbying and advocacy. They have already had a lot of practice getting things done; for instance, the Connecticut marijuana decriminalization bill was sent to Congress because of their work. Just imagine what they can do for USG - but first they need your vote.

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